The Shirley and Ting-Wei Tang Endowment Lecture Series, founded in 1999, brings leaders of both engineering education and engineering-based companies to campus to present a major talk to the University. Lectures cover subjects such as engineering education, entrepreneurship, global engineering issues, and engineering and business leadership.

Lecturers are invited to interact with students and faculty before and after the lecture. “This is a chance for students to develop a relationship on a human level with an accomplished business leader or educator,” said Joseph I. Goldstein, dean of engineering in 1999. “I see the field of business having more to say to engineering, and our students need to be aware of what’s going on beyond their field. Many of our students will eventually be leaders in these technology-based businesses.”

Shirley Tang is a retired academic adviser for the United Asia Learning Resource Center; Ting-Wei Tang has been a professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department for more than 30 years. “We decided to establish an endowment in the College of Engineering because we want to make UMass better,” the Tangs said.